During a discussion with Klaus Schwab, the chairperson of the World Economic Forum, Nadella talked about the direction he thinks the AI industry is going and the need for international safety regulations.
Additionally, he outlined some of Microsoft’s most current advancements in the field.
Nadella stated, “I think the biggest lesson for us as a digital technology industry is that we have to take the unintended consequences of any new technology along with all the benefits.” “[We] must consider them at the same time rather than waiting for the unintended consequences to manifest before addressing them.”
AI has generated concerns about increasing unemployment, misleading people, and possibly bringing about the end of humanity as we know it, despite its potential to supercharge productivity and usher in a new era of potentially better jobs, education, and medical treatments.
Many people in Silicon Valley appear to simultaneously hold both viewpoints. In a Tuesday interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Bill Gates expressed concern about the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on 40% of global jobs. However, he also expressed his belief that new technology invariably brings with it both fear and opportunity.
These remarks coincide with the ongoing demands from lawmakers and AI companies for comprehensive regulations of the technology.
Global regulation, in Nadella’s opinion, would be “very desirable.”
He declared, “These are global challenges that call for global norms and standards.” “If not, it will be extremely difficult to control, to enforce, and, to be honest, difficult to make any progress at all on some of the essential core research.”
But there “seems to be broad consensus though that is emerging,” he said.
According to Nadella, a significant shift that has occurred in the industry over the past ten years gives him hope as well.
“I think the world won’t put up with any of us coming up with something that hasn’t thought through safety, trust, and equity, so I feel like our license to operate as an industry depends on that,” he stated. “These are global concerns that affect everyone.”
Despite AI’s explosive growth, Nadella stated he thinks the major players are strategically considering the future.
He declared, “I’m very optimistic because of the dialogue that’s happening.” “People in our own industry are taking a more proactive approach by announcing our plans to raise safety standards.”
Microsoft has made a name for itself in the escalating arms race in artificial intelligence.
Microsoft invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, the startup that created the widely popular ChatGPT chatbot, last year, and has since integrated the technology into its line of products.
Large tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Meta are vying with one another to implement comparable technologies.
Microsoft earlier in the day revealed a $20 monthly subscription plan for its AI-powered Copilot tool, which utilizes the same technology as ChatGPT, for its Office 365 suite of applications, which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Before, it was exclusively offered to businesses, with prices beginning at $30 per person.
According to Nadella, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize a number of sectors, including science, education, and software engineering, by eliminating some of the “drudgery.”
“I believe that 24 will most likely be the year where all all of it would be scaled he said.
